A Sussex police officer and a journalist from The Sun have been arrested as
part of the ongoing investigation into corrupt payments, Scotland Yard said
today.

The 29-year-old officer was detained at his home in Sussex in a dawn raid and was being questioned at a South London police station.

The journalist, who lives in North London was also detained following an early morning raid on his home.

Both were arrested by detectives from Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan Police investigation looking into allegations of illegal payments to police and public officials.

The police operation, which is running in conjunction with the phone-hacking investigation, has seen 43 arrests to date.

The arrests follow information that was passed to the police by News International’s Management and Standards Committee, which was set up by Rupert Murdoch’s company to look into allegations of wrong doing at the company.

A spokesman for News International confirmed that the journalist worked for The Sun newspaper.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “A 37 year old male journalist was arrested at approx 06.00 hrs at his home in north London on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt, contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Criminal Law Act 1977 and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, contrary to Common Law and the Criminal Law Act 1977. He is currently in custody at a north London police station.

“A 29-year-old police officer was arrested at his home in Sussex at approx 06.00 hrs on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt, contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Criminal Law Act 1977, conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public Office, contrary to Common Law and the Criminal Law Act 1977 and misconduct in a public office, contrary to Common Law. He is a serving officer with Sussex police and is currently in custody at a south London police station.”

The spokesman added: “Today's arrests are the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's Management Standards Committee. They relate to suspected payments to a police officer and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.”